Growth Mindset
We continue to emphasize the value of a Growth Mindset at all grade levels. More specifically, a Growth Mindset entails the key character traits of persistence, grit, and the belief that hard work brings about positive outcomes. The earlier students develop this sense, the idea that the brain is a muscle that strengthens with work, the more likely students are to succeed. Self-efficacy, fostered by teachers with high expectations, positions students for success both in the present grade and, as importantly, for the grade levels to come. Utilization of a Growth Mindset as a means to improve student performance is research based, supported by years of scholarly articles. If you are interested in learning more about a Growth Mindset, please take some time to explore the link below:
https://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/learning-mindsets/growth-mindset/
School Improvement Update
Our School Improvement Team (SIT) met on Thursday of this week. As of this writing, our school has met all of the benchmarks described in our plan. The three central endeavors of this plan are: 1. Have a core group of early adopting teachers implement the Responsive Classroom approach this year. 2. The implementation of the Collins Writing approach at all grade levels. 3. Piloting of the American Reading Company (ARC) instructional materials in a small cohort of early adopting classrooms. We want to continue the conversation with our families regarding the key initiatives and instructional materials being implemented within our school. We are highly optimistic that all teachers will be afforded the opportunity to receive the full Responsive Classroom training next summer. Responsive Classroom is a research based program that meets the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) standards in our state. Many New England communities have also utilized the Collins approach with success. Please take a few moments to learn more about the success of both initiatives below:
https://collinsed.com/user-profiles/
https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/about/research/
SurveyWorks- Final Push: Please Participate
The window for Surveyworks is open for only ten more days. Thank you to the 50 responses we have received so far. We hope to get to at least 100 responses. Your feedback matters! As a district and as a school, we do review the results. We use this information to help orient our school activities. As we ask our students to demonstrate a Growth Mindset, we hold ourselves to that same standard: using feedback as a means to continuously strive for improvement. The password for the survey will come to you in an email very shortly. The link to the survey is below:
https://surveys.panoramaed.com/ride/login
Website
As Smithfield Public Schools & Winsor have been using the new website for the past few months, we want to make sure that all of our families regularly visit the site. We have this newsletter, as well as almost daily updates on this platform. In addition, our Live Feed is linked with Facebook, so please make it a point to visit all of our platforms and "Like" us on Facebook. Key dates, events, and news items are on the site. You can explore the website at this link:
https://winsor.smithfield-ps.org/
Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten registration for the 2019-2020 school year remains open. Please spread the word. The portal to start this process is here:
http://winsor.smithfield-ps.org/o/smithfield-public-schools/page/registering-a-new-student
School Safety Audit
As part of a grant secured by Dr. Paolucci, Winsor, like all other Smithfield Schools, will be provided a safety audit by Safe Havens International. Our school will have a consultant visit our campus on Tuesday, March 26th. All school business will proceed as usual. We will inform students that there will be a visitor on Tuesday. In order to make sure the visit is valid, all structures and routines will remain the same. In short, it will be "business as usual." The consultant will be taking pictures. These pictures will only be used to share the findings of the visit and destroyed after their use. This visit is important as we constantly seek to make our safe school even more safe.
RICAS- ELA: Grades, 3, 4,, & 5
Students in 3rd, 4th, & 5th Grade will be taking the RICAS ELA assessment on Tuesday, April 2nd and Wednesday, April 3rd. Please make sure that students bring headphones for the assessment. Should any student need headphones, the school will provide a pair for any student.
Teaching & Learning Night
Please hold the date: Thursday, April 11th. This exciting evening will showcase the excellent work of our students and celebrate all they have accomplished this year. Please make sure you can attend. This event will begin at 5:30pm.
Confucius Classroom
Students in the primary grades have the opportunity to participate in the Confucius Classroom, part of our connection to Bryant University. Students in this ASE program learn Chinese language, culture, and music. Students create projects that include the skill of writing Chinse letters. We are so proud of the growth of our students in this program.